Her Little Spanish Secret

by Laura Iding

  HER LITTLE SPANISH SECRET

  Laura Iding

  www.millsandboon.com.au

  Dear Reader

  Like many of you I’ve spent years as an armchair traveller, learning about other countries and other cultures by reading rather than visiting.

  Last year I had the tremendous opportunity to visit Seville (pronounced Sevilla), in Spain. My family and I had a great time, and when I returned home I had this story whirling around in my head about how an American woman falls in love with a Spanish surgeon.

  Miguel and Kat originally meet in the US, when Miguel is an exchange student, but when they meet again Kat is visiting Miguel’s home city of Seville. Sparks flash and the passion that they shared once before returns in force. But can they create a life together coming from such different cultures? Will true love conquer all?

  I hope you enjoy reading Miguel and Kat’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Don’t hesitate to visit my website or find me on Facebook—I love to hear from my readers.

  Sincerely

  Laura Iding

  www.lauraiding.com

  This book is dedicated to the Milwaukee WisRWA group. Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support.

  PROLOGUE

  Four and a half years earlier…

  KAT had never seen so much blood—it pooled on the floor and stained the walls of the O.R. suite. Dr. Miguel Vasquez, along with two other trauma surgeons, had worked as hard as they could to stop the bleeding but to no avail. Their young, pregnant patient and her unborn baby had died.

  After the poor woman’s body had been sent to the morgue, Kat was left alone to finish putting the supplies and equipment away while the housekeepers cleaned up the blood. Only once they were finished did she head over to the staff locker room. Thankfully, her shift was over, she was exhausted. Yet as tired as she was physically, she was emotionally keyed up, and couldn’t get the horrific scene from the O.R. out of her mind. They hadn’t had a case like that in a long time.

  After she changed out of her scrubs into a pair of well-worn jeans and a short-sleeved sweater, she found Dr. Vasquez sitting in the staff lounge, holding his head in his hands. He looked so upset and dejected that she stopped—unable to simply walk away.

  “Please don’t torture yourself over this,” she urged softly, as she sank down beside him on the sofa close enough that their shoulders brushed. “Her death wasn’t your fault.”

  Miguel slowly lifted and turned his head to look at her, his eyes full of agony. “I should have called the rest of the team in earlier.”

  “You called them as soon as you discovered her abdomen was full of blood and they came as soon as they could,” she corrected. “No one knew she was pregnant, it was too early to tell.”

  “I should have examined her more closely down in the trauma bay,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “Then we would have known.”

  “Do you really think that would have made a difference?” she asked softly. “Even if the other two surgeons had been notified earlier, they wouldn’t have been able to come right away. Dr. Baccus said they were resuscitating a patient in the I.C.U. All of us in the O.R. suite did the best we could.”

  He stared at her for a long moment, and then sighed. “I can’t help thinking about what I should have done differently. I know we can’t save every patient, but she was just so young. And pregnant. I can’t help feeling I failed her.”

  She put her hand on his arm, trying to offer some reassurance. “If three of the best trauma surgeons in the whole hospital couldn’t save her or her baby, then it wasn’t meant to be.”

  A ghost of a smile played along the edges of his mouth, and she was glad she’d been able to make him feel a little better. Because what she’d said was true. Everyone talked about Miguel’s skill in the O.R. He could have stayed here in the U.S. once his fellowship was finished, even though he’d made it clear that wasn’t part of his plan.

  She reluctantly slid her hand from his arm and rose to her feet. But she’d only taken two steps when he stopped her.

  “Katerina?”

  She hesitated and turned to look back at him, surprised and secretly pleased he’d remembered her first name. They’d operated on dozens of patients together, but while she’d always been keenly aware of Miguel, she had never been absolutely sure he’d noticed her the same way. “Yes?”

  “Do you have plans for tonight? If not, would you join me? We could get a bite to eat or something.”

  She wasn’t hungry, but could tell Miguel didn’t want to be alone, and suddenly she didn’t either. Word amongst the O.R. staff was that Miguel wasn’t in the market for a relationship since his time in the U.S. was limited, but she ignored the tiny warning flickering in the back of her mind. “I don’t have any plans for tonight, and I’d love to have dinner.” Or something. !

  “Muy bien.” He rose to his feet and held out his hand. She took it and suppressed a shiver when a tingle of awareness shot up her arm.

  But she didn’t pull away. Instead, she stayed close at his side while they left the hospital together.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “DOWN, Mama. Down!”

  “Soon, Tommy. I promise.” Katerina Richardson fought a wave of exhaustion and tightened her grip on her wriggly son. She couldn’t imagine anything more torturous than being stuck in a plane for sixteen hours with an active soon-to-be four-year-old. She didn’t even want to think of the longer flight time on the return trip.

  Plenty of time to worry about that, later. For now they’d finally arrived in Seville, Spain. And she desperately needed to get to the hospital to see how her half sister was doing after being hit by a car. The information from Susan Horton, the coordinator for the study abroad program, had been sketchy at best.

  “I can’t believe the stupid airline lost my luggage,” her best friend, Diana Baylor, moaned as they made their way out of the airport to the line of people waiting for taxis. “It’s so hot here in April compared to Cambridge, Massachusetts. I’m already sweating—I can’t imagine staying in these same clothes for very long.”

  Kat felt bad for her friend, who’d only come on this trip in the first place as a favor to her, but what could she do? Diana’s lost luggage was the least of her concerns. “Don’t worry, I’ll share my stuff or we’ll buy what you need.”

  “Down, Mama. Down!” Tommy’s tone, accompanied by his wiggling, became more insistent.

  “Okay, but you have to hold my hand,” Kat warned her son, as she put him on his feet. She’d let him run around in the baggage claim area while they’d waited for their luggage, but even that hadn’t put a dent in his energy level. She was grateful he’d slept on the plane, even though she hadn’t. Kat grabbed hold of his hand before he could make a beeline for the road. “Stay next to me, Tommy.”

  He tugged on her hand, trying to go in the opposite direction from where they needed to wait for a taxi. Thank heavens the line was moving fast. Her son was as dark as she was blonde and if she had a nickel for every person who’d asked her if he was adopted, she’d be rich. Even here, she could feel curious eyes on them.

  “No, Tommy. This way. Look, a car! We’re going to go for a ride!”

  His attention diverted, Tommy readily climbed into the cab after Diana. They all squished into the back seat for the short ride to their hotel. “Hesperia Hotel, please,” she told the taxi driver.

  “Hesperia? No comprendo Hesperia.” Their cab driver shook his head as he pulled out into traffic, waving his hand rather impatiently. “No comprendo.”

  Kat refused to panic and quickly rummaged through her carry-on bag to pull out the hotel confirmation document. She handed it to him so he could read the name of the hotel fo
r himself. He looked at the paper and made a sound of disgust. “Es-peer-ria,” he said, emphasizing the Spanish pronunciation. “Esperia Hotel.”

  Properly chastised, she belatedly remembered from her two years of high-school Spanish that the H was silent. Being in Spain brought back bittersweet memories of Tommy’s father, especially during their three-hour layover in Madrid. She’d briefly toyed with the thought of trying to find Miguel, but had then realized her idea was ludicrous. Madrid was a huge city and she had no idea where to even start, if he’d even be there, which she seriously doubted. He may have studied there but it was possible he’d moved on. “Sí. Hesperia Hotel, gracias.”

  The taxi driver mumbled something unintelligible and probably uncomplimentary in Spanish, under his breath. Kat ignored him.

  “Are you going to the hospital today?” Diana asked with a wide yawn. “I’m voting for a nap first.”

  “I doubt Tommy will sleep any time soon,” she reminded her friend. “And, yes, I’m going to head to the hospital as soon as we get the hotel room secured. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to watch Tommy for a while.”

  “I know,” Diana said quickly. “I don’t mind.” Kat knew Diana wouldn’t renege on her duties, seeing as Kat had been the one to pay for her friend’s airfare, along with footing the hotel bill. Kat hadn’t minded as she’d needed someone to help watch over her son. “Wow, Kat, take a look at the architecture of that building over there. Isn’t it amazing?”

  “Yeah, amazing.” Kat forced a smile, because Diana was right—the view was spectacular. Yet the thrill of being in Europe for the first time in her life couldn’t make her forget the reason they were there. The knot in her stomach tightened as she wondered what she’d discover when she went to the hospital. Susan Horton, the director of the study abroad program at Seville University, had called just thirty-six hours ago, to let her know that her younger half sister, Juliet, had a serious head injury and was too sick to be flown back to the U.S. for care.

  Kat had immediately made arrangements to fly over to Seville in order to be there for her sister.

  She and Juliet hadn’t been particularly close. And not just because of the seven-year age gap. They had different fathers and for some reason Juliet had always seemed to resent Kat. Their respective fathers had both abandoned their mother, which should have given them something in common. After their mother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Kat had promised her mother she’d look after Juliet.

  Juliet had gone a little wild after their mother’s death, but had settled down somewhat after she’d finished her second year of college. At the ripe old age of twenty-one, Juliet had insisted on studying abroad for the spring semester of her junior year. Kat had been forced to pick up a lot of call weekends in order to pay for the program, but she’d managed. To be fair, Juliet had come up with a good portion of the money herself.

  Kat felt guilty now about how she’d been secretly relieved to put her younger sister on a plane to Spain. But even if she’d tried to talk Juliet out of going, it wouldn’t have worked. Juliet would only have resented her even more.

  How had the accident happened? All she’d been told was that Juliet had run out into the street and had been hit by a car, but she didn’t know anything further.

  Getting to the hotel didn’t take long, although there was another hassle as she figured out the dollar to Euro exchange in order to pay the cranky cab driver. As soon as Diana and Tommy were settled in the hotel room, Kat asked the front-desk clerk for directions to the hospital. She managed to figure out how to get there on the metro, which wasn’t very different than using the subway back home.

  Seville’s teaching hospital was larger than she’d expected and that gave her hope that Juliet was getting good medical and nursing care. Kat found her sister in their I.C.U and walked in, only to stop abruptly when she saw Juliet was connected to a ventilator. Her stomach clenched even harder when she noted several dark bruises and small lacerations marring her sister’s pale skin.

  “Dear heaven,” she breathed, trailing her gaze from her sister up to the heart monitor. She’d done a yearlong stint in the I.C.U before going to the O.R. so she’d known what to expect, but had hoped that Juliet might have improved during the time it had taken her to make the travel arrangements and actually arrive in Seville.

  A nurse, dressed head to toe in white, complete with nurse’s cap on her dark hair, came into the room behind her. Kat blinked back tears and turned to the nurse. “How is she? Has her condition improved? What is the extent of her injury? Can I speak to the doctor?”

  The nurse stared at her blankly for a moment and then began talking in rapid Spanish, none of which Kat could understand.

  Kat wanted to cry. She desperately paged through the English/Spanish dictionary she held, trying to look up words in Spanish to explain what she wanted to know. “¿Donde esta el doctor? ¿Habla Ingles?” she finally asked. Where is the doctor? Speak English?

  The nurse spun around and left the room.

  Kat sank into a chair next to Juliet’s bed, gently clasping her half sister’s hand in hers. Maybe the age difference, and completely opposite personalities, had kept them from being close, but Juliet was still her sister. With their mother gone, they only had each other.

  She had to believe Juliet would pull through this. Her sister was young and strong, surely she’d be fine.

  Kat put her head down on the edge of Juliet’s bed, closing her eyes just for a moment, trying to combat the deep fatigue of jet lag and her fear regarding the seriousness of her sister’s injuries.

  She didn’t think she’d fallen asleep, but couldn’t be sure how much time had passed when she heard a deep male voice, thankfully speaking in English. She lifted her head and prised her heavy eyelids open.

  “I understand you have questions regarding the condition of Juliet Campbell?”

  “Yes, thank you.” She quickly rose to her feet and blinked the grit from her eyes as she turned to face the doctor.

  His familiar facial features made the room gyrate wildly, and she had to grasp the edge of her sister’s side rail for support. “Miguel?” she whispered in shock, wondering if she was dreaming. Had thoughts of Tommy’s father conjured up a mirage? Or was it just the doctor’s Hispanic features, dark hair falling rakishly over his forehead, deep brown eyes gazing into hers, that were so achingly familiar?

  “Katerina.” His eyes widened in surprise, and she couldn’t help feeling relieved to know she wasn’t the only one knocked off balance at this chance meeting. For several long seconds they simply stared at each other across the room. Slowly, he smiled, relieving part of the awkwardness. “What a pleasant surprise to see you again. How are you?”

  She tightened her grip on the bed rail behind her because her knees threatened to give away. “I’m fine, thanks.” She struggled to keep her tone friendly, even though for one beautiful night they’d been far more than just friends. Yet despite her fanciful thoughts during the Madrid layover, she hadn’t really expected to see Miguel again.

  He looked good. Better than good. Miguel was taller than most Latino men, with broad shoulders and a golden skin tone that showcased his bright smile. His dark eyes were mesmerizing. If not for his full name, Dr. Miguel Vasquez, embroidered on his white lab coat—she’d for sure think this was a dream.

  She knew Juliet’s condition needed to be her primary concern, but she had so many other questions she wanted to ask him. “I’m surprised to find you here in Seville. I thought you lived in Madrid?”

  He didn’t answer right away, and she thought she saw a flash of guilt shadow his dark eyes. She glanced away, embarrassed. She didn’t want him feeling guilty for the night they’d shared together. Or for leaving so abruptly when notified of his father’s illness. It wasn’t as if they’d been dating or anything.

  Neither was it his fault she’d let her feelings spin out of control that night.

  When she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d called his cell phone,
the only number she’d had, but the number had already been out of service. She’d assumed he hadn’t kept his old American phone once he’d returned to Spain. She’d looked for him on several social media sites, but hadn’t found him. After about six months she’d stopped trying.

  “I live here,” he said simply. “My family’s olive farm is just twenty minutes outside Seville.”

  “I see,” she said, although she really didn’t. Obviously, she hadn’t known much about Miguel’s family. She could hardly picture him growing up on an olive farm. She’d simply assumed because he was a Madrid exchange student that he’d lived there. She forced a smile, wishing they could recapture the easy camaraderie they’d once shared. “How’s your father?”

  “He passed away three and a half years ago.” The shadows in Miguel’s eyes betrayed his grief.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured helplessly. She’d known that Miguel had needed to return to Spain when his father had been sick, but she was a little surprised that he’d stayed here, even after his father had passed away.

  During the night they’d shared together he’d confided about how he dreamed of joining Doctors Without Borders. When she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Miguel once she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d imagined him working in some distant country.

  Why hadn’t he followed his dream? He’d told her about how he was only waiting to be finished with his family obligations. And his father had passed away three and a half years ago. He should have been long gone by now.

  Not that Miguel’s choices were any of her business.

  Except, now that he was here, how was she going to tell him about their son?

  Panic soared, squeezing the air from her lungs. She struggled to take a deep breath, trying to calm her jagged nerves. Right now she needed to focus on her sister. She pulled herself together with an effort. “Will you please tell me about Juliet’s head injury? How bad is it? What exactly is her neuro status?”